Jane Austen 's Pride And Prejudice

Explore Jane Austen’s attitude to marriage in Pride and Prejudice Looking at the social, historical and cultural context In the 19th century when Austen wrote ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the way in which marriage was viewed was very different. It would have been expected of a young woman to find a ‘suitable’ partner for marriage before they were thirty, as after this they could be seen as an embarrassment to their family. By suitable, it does not mean in the way in which marriage is viewed today.

The roles of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet in Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice are contrasted between a father who cares about what’s inside of people and a mother who only worries about vanity and appearance. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s parental guidance is unique to their personalities. Because of their two opposing personas, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s ideas of marriage are contradictory for their daughters; Mr. Bennet believes in a loving respectful marriage whereas Mrs. Bennet values a marriage which concerns wealth and social status. Their aspirations for Lydia, Jane, Mary, Kitty and Elizabeth mirror their conflicting ideologies. Mr. Bennet seems to have a quiet deep love

In Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen introduces the major thematic concept of marriage and financial wealth. Throughout the novel, Austen depicts various relationships that exhibit the two recurring themes. Set during the regency period, the perception of marriage revolves around a universal truth. Austen claims that a single man “must be in want of a wife.” Hence, the social stature and wealth of men were of principal importance for women. Austen, however, hints that the opposite may prove more exact: a single woman, under the social limitations, is in want of a husband. Through this speculation, Austen acknowledges that the economic pressure of social acceptance serves as a foundation for a proper marriage.

In Pride and Prejudice Author Jane Austen claims that marriage should be between a man and women who love each other equally. Austen's disgust of Marriage and decorum in British culture is written through the eyes of main the main character in Pride and Prejudice, Miss Elizabeth Bennett. It is sad to think that marriage could be bought or in Elizabeth Bennett’s case not afforded. Marriage shouldn’t be the only measure of worth for women. Someone should not feel “repugnance” for a marriage due to situation.

In the words of Jane Austen, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen, 5). This quote highlights how women were dependent on men to have a place and to be respected in society at the time of the victorian era. Women were viewed as domestic tools rather than human beings; they were treated as a domestic production that men control and own. Before a woman is married she is owned by her father, and after she is owned by her husband. In different parts of the world, the undergrading of women or no feminism still exists. Women can not voice their opinions let alone own an object in the

‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a novel fixated on marriage: throughout, all the ‘action’ occurs within scenes devoted to either the talk of marriage or actual proposals. This cannot be expounded more than within the very first line: ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife’. Here, at the beginning of the novel, a definite, though somewhat sarcastic, statement introduces the main theme of the novel – marriage- and, possibly more importantly, not love.

The first thing people would notice about Pride and Prejudice is the obsession with marriage. After all, the very first line in the book is “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife” (Austen 1). Marriage was very important to the English in this period of time for a few reasons, wealth and land being the main ones. Those two will be explained in more detail a little later. Outside of wealth, the main reason that females themselves would want to get married was because they were reliant on money that came from men,

In Pride and Prejudice, pressures of society force women to marry just for money and wealth, but some of the women see marriage as more than just a “business.” For

Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a canonical text set in Regency England which focuses on the Bennet family and their “business” to marry off their 5 daughters. Austen uses Elizabeth Bennet as the central character of this text to provide her insights on social divisions in her time. In Regency England, a woman’s marital status had a huge impact on their value in society and women who were not married were differentiated from society and were treated poorly. If a woman in Regency England was to be offered an advantageous proposal from a wealthy man it would be accepted blindly, however for Elizabeth Bennet it is not the case. Mr Darcy’s proposal to Elizabeth is rejected due to him being ‘unjust and ungenerous’.

In Jane Austen’s novel “Pride and Prejudice”, her character Elizabeth Bennet refuses marriage proposals because she secretly believes that materialism and ignorance are the cause of lost love and unhappiness. In “Pride and Prejudice”, Elizabeth uses the example of marriages, like her parents or the Collins’, to prove that marrying simply to have a man for “security” isn’t the right reason. In chapter 42 of the novel Austen writes “Respect, esteem, and confidence had vanished for ever; and all his views of domestic happiness were overthrown.” in order to express that her character notices her parents’ regret in marrying each other because her mother married for money and her father married for beauty.

In the text, Mrs. Bennet illustrates to the audience her prides, by enacting on her one clear goal in life; that is to marry off her daughters to a high-end, respectable man. Mrs. Bennet is known for the type of person who would do anything to become a step ahead of everyone else in life. In the text, she tries to teach all her children responsibility, by instructing them on techniques to retain their men. The text “Pride and Prejudice” portrays similar characteristics to that of “The good house wives guide,”. Though the two were written in different eras, the main characters inhabits many of the qualities a typical house wife will have. According to the guide, “You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first — remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.” During this time, it was very clear that a man’s happiness was over and above a woman’s happiness. Consequently, as seen in the “Marriage and Love”, by Emma Goldman, it is said that well-behaved women rarely make history”, due to their inability to dedicate themselves to their men. On the contrary, women today can make history without their dedication to their men. Reason being is that women are no obtaining education and sustaining jobs just as men are.

In Pride and Prejudice, the first marriage presented is that of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. Being the parents of five daughters, the Bennet 's marriage set the example for their children yet their relationship did not constitute true love, but more of mutual tolerance. Mrs. Bennet, an obnoxious women with an erratic temper, symbolizes society’s obsession with material wealth and social standing. As Jane Austen states when describing Mrs. Bennet, “The business of her

Through the use of literary devices, Pride and Prejudice reveals Jane Austen’s attitude towards the novel’s theme of true love through the actions of the suitors; the process of courtship in the 1800s articulates characterization, foreshadowing, and irony. The novel opens with the line, “it is a truth acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of wife,” (Austen 1) which foreshadows the conflict of finding a significant other . During the Victorian age, men and women courted others of the same education, wealth, and social status; it was considered uncommon for someone to marry beneath them or to marry for love. Jane Austen uses Elizabeth Bennett’s encounters with different characters of varying

During England’s Romantic period, arranged marriages between young men and women were customary and of much importance, allowing the custom to be influential and reflected in the culture and literature of the time period. The 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a story of how an unlikely match overcomes the obstacles of social prejudices and the couple’s own vanity to find happiness, exemplifies the problems this custom caused and how it impacted society. The relationships and interactions between people of differing social classes in this novel allow readers to understand the impact of this issue during that time. People in 19th century England found the practice of arranged marriages as a ritual and the norm, ultimately resulting in sacrifices of happiness and causing social prejudices to be inevitable.

Jane Austen’s well-known novel, Pride and Prejudice, discussed multiple social themes in the 19th century. Austen mainly criticized marriage during her era, when she says that, “it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 3). As she explains that it was valuable to women since it provided them with security and a social title. The author explored the diverse motives behind matrimony in her time period by using a humorous and romantic plot to discuss the social issues. For instance, Charlotte Lucas’s unreasonable marriage to Mr. Collins is a vital example of how women needed to secure a future and attain social status. To conclude, Lydia Bennet’s meaningless marriage to George Wickham shows that entering the marriage estate could have also been for mainly financial purposes. Contrastingly, Jane Bennet, the heroine’s older sister, marries Charles Bingley for love, security, and a social ranking. On the other hand, Elizabeth Bennet marries Fitzwilliam Darcy after months of misunderstandings and romantic drama for none other than true love. Thus, Austen uses her leading characters’ marriages in Pride and Prejudice to exhibit the various attitudes and reasons for marrying in the 19th century. (Lane 2015)